Courtesy of The Matthew Shepard Foundation
The story of Matthew Shepard, a young life taken at the hands of brutality, is 15 years old, but for those old to remember the crime will never forget.
On the night of Oct. 6, 1998 in Laramie, Wy., Shepard was 21 when he met Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, also 21, at a bar and said he was too drunk to drive home. The two drove him out to a remote spot, where they robbed, pistol whipped, and tortured him. They then tied the bludgeoned Shepard to a fence — allegedly his face was completely covered in blood save for where tears had washed it away — and left him there to die. Eighteen hours later, he was found by a bicyclist who initially thought he was a scarecrow. Shepard’s injuries were so severe that doctors could not operate, and he died on Oct. 12, 1998.